On Location in the Loire Valley Criticism

Diane Ackerman

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Few volumes of poetry today win more than a handful of short reviews in the mainstream journals and magazines, but Ackerman's poetry has been routinely praised in reviews that do appear. Although he does not single out "On Location in the Loire Valley" directly for comment in his review of I Praise My Destroyer, John Taylor makes the following observation in Poetry: "Ackerman weaves intricate, colorful, often stunning linguistic tapestries. . . . her exuberant yokings of nouns and unexpected adjectives can likewise divert from quieter, more meditative feelings."

Similarly, in Booklist Donna Seaman comments that Ackerman "wears poetic forms like silk dresses that sway and cling in perfect accord to the stride of her lines." Seaman praises Ackerman's metaphors and humor and finds her poems "wholly original." In Library Journal Ann van Buren observes that "all of the poems [in I Praise My Destroyer] reflect intelligence, awareness, and...